


A Late Night

by Robin Hood (kjack89)



Series: The Time of Day [1]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Developing Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 18:16:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13277160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kjack89/pseuds/Robin%20Hood
Summary: “Well, then, let me help you.”Barba blinked at him. “You can’t be serious.”“Idohave my law degree,” Carisi reminded him, rather unnecessarily. “Pretty sure I can manage to read through some case law and pull precedent for you.”“For once, I wasn’t questioning your ability,” Barba said, leaning back in his seat and looking at Carisi appraisingly. “But why in the world would you voluntarily spend the evening helping me sort through case law?”Carisi shrugged. “Well,” he hedged, “You said you were too busy for harmless flirting, so…”





	A Late Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [greygerbil](https://archiveofourown.org/users/greygerbil/gifts).



> For greygerbil, who requested a late night working, and I've done my level best to deliver. Merry extremely belated Christmas, though in defense, it's not yet Epiphany, so still _technically_ the Christmas season!!
> 
> Usual disclaimer. Please be kind and tip your fanfic writers in the form of comments and/or kudos!

9:18pm

  
“You still here, Counselor?” Carisi asked, and Barba didn’t even need to look up from his increasingly illegible notes to know that the detective was leaning against his door jamb and looking at him with something like curiosity or pity in his expression.

Either way, it wasn’t something Barba needed to dignify with an actual response. “No, I’ve somehow cloned myself and I’m really at home with my feet up, glass of scotch in hand, finally catching up on all the episodes of Veep that I haven’t gotten through yet.”

“I would’ve taken you for a drama or period piece kind of person,” Carisi said mildly. “What episode are you up to? Maybe I can fill you in.”

Barba finally looked up from his scrawled notes, unsurprised to see that Carisi was exactly where he had imagined him, and his expression was exactly what he expected. “I think I left off somewhere in season 3,” he said flatly.

Carisi looked surprised. “You doing a rewatch?”

“No, I haven’t had time to watch TV since about 2014.”

“Why not?” Carisi asked.

Barba raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at the stacks of casefiles on his desk. “Hmm, I wonder,” he said, sarcasm thick in his voice.

Carisi had the audacity to laugh as he crossed over to sit across from Barba’s desk, and Barba sighed, resigning himself to the fact that, for at least the next ten minutes, he wasn’t going to get any work done.

If he were less tired, he’d play his usual game with Carisi, where he’d pretend to be annoyed, and then Carisi would endeavor to wear him down, and then he’d relent to the company he wanted all along. But today was one of those days where he actually didn’t want Carisi’s company, no matter how surprisingly pleasant said company might be.

“Ordinarily, Detective, I’d accuse you of inviting yourself in without my permission, there’d be banter and we’d spend the next fifteen minutes engaging in mostly harmless flirting before you went on your way, but unfortunately for you, the defense filed no fewer than twenty-seven motions to either suppress or dismiss today which means I have to find twenty-seven different pieces of precedent, since I doubt the judge will buy my argument of ‘you’ve got to be fucking kidding me’,” Barba told him dryly.

He was too tired to even pay full attention to Carisi’s facial expressions, missing entirely the way his eyes widened at the mention of harmless flirting but also missing the determined jut of Carisi’s jaw as he said, “Well, then, let me help you.”

Barba blinked at him. “You can’t be serious.”

“I _do_ have my law degree,” Carisi reminded him, rather unnecessarily. “Pretty sure I can manage to read through some case law and pull precedent for you.”

“For once, I wasn’t questioning your ability,” Barba said, leaning back in his seat and looking at Carisi appraisingly. “But why in the world would you voluntarily spend the evening helping me sort through case law?”

Carisi shrugged. “Well,” he hedged, “You said you were too busy for harmless flirting, so…”

Barba barked a laugh and shook his head. “Fine,” he said, after a long moment. “But when it’s three hours from now and you’re miserable and hate me, just remember that you volunteered for this.” 

Carisi laughed as well and grinned at Barba. “Deal,” he said easily, holding out his hand expectantly. “Where do you want me to start?”

 

 

10:26pm

_  
Grrrrgh._

A muscle worked in Carisi’s jaw, and he stared determinedly at the casefile in front of him.

_Grrrrwlghhh._

Carisi clicked the cap of his highlighter in hopes the loud, plasticy sound would drown out the persistent grumble coming from Barba’s desk.

_Grrrwlghhhhhghhwhh._

“Oh my _God_ ,” Carisi snapped, glaring at Barba, who blinked up at him, confused. “Is your stomach digesting itself? Do you need an antacid or something?”

Barba frowned at him before transferring his frown down at his own stomach, which was still growling loudly. “Sorry,” he sighed, running a tired hand over his face. “I may have forgotten to eat dinner.”

Carisi gaped at him. “How do you just _forget_ to eat?” he practically squawked, sounding insulted by the very thought.

“I live on caffeine and self-righteousness,” Barba said dryly.

“And man can’t live on caffeine and self-righteousness alone,” Carisi shot back, pulling out his phone.

“Did you just misquote the Bible at me?” Barba asked, amused. Carisi ignored him and Barba sighed. “I really don’t need food,” he said. “I have a granola bar in here somewhere. I think.”

Carisi just gave him a look. “Yeah, ok,” he said. “Anyway, food’ll be here in 35 minutes.”

Barba sighed dramatically but gave Carisi a slightly hopeful look. “Sushi?” he asked. “Or Thai?” 

Carisi rolled his eyes and picked his casefile back up. “You’ve managed this long,” he said. “I doubt thirty-five minutes more will kill you.”

 

 

11:01pm

  
“Ok, fine,” Barba said grudgingly, reaching across his desk to snag a shrimp in lobster sauce from the container Carisi was holding, “Chinese was an excellent choice.”

Carisi grinned at him, munching on a crab rangoon. “See?” he said easily. “A little break to eat is just what you needed. Now you can go back to your case law and your precedent, and you’ll be less tempted to murder someone because your stomach is trying to eat itself.”

Barba rolled his eyes. “I was just a little hungry,” he scoffed. “I doubt some Kung Pao Beef is going to help me work my way through this case.”

“Fair,” Carisi said, still grinning, “But you know damn well an egg roll can’t hurt.” 

Barba glared at him, but couldn’t quite find it in himself to disagree.

 

 

12:21am

  
“I hate you,” Carisi groaned, his voice muffled from where he was lying facedown on Barba’s couch.

Barba didn’t even look up from the law textbook he was flipping through. “I could’ve told you,” he said distractedly, pausing at a likely page, running his finger down the text until he found the section he was looking for. “As a matter of fact, I’m fairly certain I did.”

Carisi lifted his head just far enough to scowl at Barba. “Why the hell did you let the judge allow these motions?” he complained.

“I’m sorry, Harvard apparently didn’t offer the same course that Fordham did on ‘When to Tell a Judge He’s Not Allowed to do Whatever the Hell He Wants in His Own Courtroom’,” Barba muttered, too absorbed in what he was reading to fully pay attention to what Carisi was saying.

As such, he missed Carisi tossing a balled up piece of paper at his head, only looking up when the paper hit him square in the middle of his forehead and glaring at Carisi, who couldn’t quite contain his giggle. “Detective, I’m overwhelmed by your maturity,” Barba snapped, closing his law textbook with an equally angry-sounding snap.

Carisi just snorted a laugh. “It’s after midnight, Barba,” he said reasonably. “Maturity has no place after midnight.”

“Spoken like someone who not even two years ago was spending late nights in the law library and chasing co-eds,” Barba sniped.

“Listen,” Carisi said, slowly pushing himself into an upright position, “Maybe that’s how you spent _your_ law school days, but _some_ of us were working full time, and the only time I was in the law library was to check out the books I couldn’t find online.”

Barba rolled his eyes and grabbed a pencil, underlining something in the case file. “And I suppose you’re going to tell me you never once hooked up with a classmate.”

“Nah,” Carisi said casually, “I was never into the classmate thing. Teachers, on the other hand — I mean, I always was into older guys, so...”

The tip of Barba’s pencil broke with a _snap_ from the sudden pressure applied to it.

 

 

1:35am

  
“Alright,” Barba said with a tired sigh, bending down to rustle through the drawer of his desk, “It’s time.”

Carisi blinked blearily at him. “Time for what?” he asked, stifling a yawn.

In answer, Barba pulled a bottle of scotch and two glasses out and set them on his desk with a definitive _thunk_. Carisi eyed the bottle. “Is that a good idea?’ he asked.

Barba shrugged, pouring both of them two fingers of scotch. “You’re the one who said that good ideas have no place after midnight.”

Carisi rolled his eyes but nonetheless grabbed the glass off of Barba’s desk and sniffed it cautiously. “To be fair, I said maturity had no place after midnight,” he said, before taking a sip.

“Maturity, good ideas…” Barba shrugged and reached up to further loosen his already loose tie. “Same difference.”

Carisi propped his chin on his hand. “You know, if I were a psychologist, I could read a lot into that.”

Barba gave him a look. “Then let’s all be grateful that you went to law school and didn’t pursue a degree in psychology,” he said dryly. “Now are you going to actually continue to be useful? Because if not, you’re welcome to go home at any time.”

“You know I take that as a challenge,” Carisi said conversationally, grabbing a file and opening it.

Barba just arched an eyebrow at him. “And that says more about you than it does about me.” 

Carisi scowled, but he couldn’t quite seem to find a comeback, and Barba didn’t bother trying to hide his smirk.

 

 

2:14am

  
“Delivery,” Carisi said confidently, his phone tucked between his shoulder and his ear as he sorted through case files, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. “One Hogan Place.”

“How can you possibly be hungry?” Barba asked mildly, taking a sip of scotch and chasing it with a swig of coffee. “We ate all of, what, four hours ago?”

Carisi covered the mouthpiece of his phone and gave Barba a look. “It was three hours ago,” he informed him, “and besides, you haven’t had pizza til you’ve tried this goat cheese pizza from this little place I know.”

Barba rolled his eyes. “Little place you know,” he scoffed. “I get it, Carisi, you’re Italian.”

For the sake of both of them, Carisi ignored him. “Thanks, Sal,” he said cheerfully. “Yeah, gimme a call when it gets here, I’m pretty sure the doors are locked.” He listened to whatever the person on the other end was saying and laughed uncomfortably. “Nah, just working late with a colleague.” He gave Barba an appraising look and managed a small smile. “Well, something like that, anyway.”

He hung up and tossed his phone down. “Something like what?” Barba asked, trying not to sound as curious as he felt.

“Sal seems to think I’m getting something out of this,” Carisi said with a shrug. “Like, uh...well, something.”

“Well, something,” Barba repeated, with a small smirk. “Huh. Well, if you’re getting anything out of this, Detective, I’d imagine we’d chalk it up to masochism at this point, so. Perhaps a conversation for a much different point in time.”

Carisi just shrugged again, smirking as well. “Maybe,” he said. “But then again, we’ve got a half hour til the pizza gets here, so if there was any time to talk about it…”

Barba snorted and shook his head. “Just focus on your files,” he said dismissively. 

“Yes, sir,” Carisi said innocently, half-smirking when Barba gave him a very long and very measured look.

 

 

3:07am

  
“Alright, Carisi, I’ll stipulate, the pizza was delicious,” Barba admitted with a sigh, sitting forward in his seat as he crumpled up his napkin and lobbed it at the garbage can. “Though I’m still not sure that we _needed_ to have a second dinner.”

“We did,” Carisi said confidently. “It helps with concentration. Or something.”

Barba raised an eyebrow. “Or something,” he repeated skeptically. “Sure. On the other hand—” He broke off with a sigh, rolling his shoulders forward uncomfortably before standing. “On the other hand, if we want to improve concentration, I think it starts with proper lumbar support.”

“What are you doing?” Carisi asked warily, watching as Barba crossed over to the couch he was sitting on and sat down at the far end, hesitating before propping his feet in Carisi’s lap.

“My chair hurts my back,” Barba informed him, looking down at the case file he had brought with him as if there was nothing strange about the most recent turn of events. “Sitting on the couch helps.”

Carisi glanced down at Barba’s feet in his lap. “And, uh, propping up your feet helps as well?” he asked, mostly rhetorically. When Barba didn’t answer, he sighed and set his case file down. “C’mon, lemme give you a back rub. I used to get roped into giving my sisters shoulder massages back in high school. It’ll help more than trying to lounge on this couch will.”

Barba scowled at him. “If anyone is touching my back, it’s going to be my chiropractor.”

“And when was the last time you actually had time to go to the chiropractor?” Carisi shot back. “During Veep season 2?”

“Touché,” Barba allowed, eyeing Carisi warily. “Fine. But if you pinch a nerve, you’re going to owe damages.”

Carisi laughed and rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he said breezily. “I bet I can get Rita or Buchanan to represent me in court for free anyway, so. What have I got to lose?’ 

Barba rolled his eyes as well. “Well,” he muttered, sitting up and turning so that his back was to Carisi, “With an attitude like that, what could possibly go wrong?”

 

 

7:52am

  
Barba woke with a start, blinking into wakefulness, trying to figure out where he was or what was happening. He was on the couch in his office, which was unfortunately not as unusual a situation as he would prefer. What was unusual was the warm arm he felt draped around his waist, and the slow and even breath he felt against the back of his neck from a face tucked in close against him.

What was equally unusual was the wide-eyed look Carmen was giving him, paused halfway into the office, both eyebrows raised so high they had practically disappeared into her hair. “It’s not what it looks like,” Barba sighed, though he made no attempt to move.

“Sure it isn’t,” Carmen said pleasantly, crossing fully into his office to set whatever file she was bringing him onto his desk. Still, she made no other comment, merely crossing back to the door and closing it quietly after her, and Barba felt a sudden rush of appreciation for her, far beyond what he normally felt.

Barba sighed again and slowly rolled over to face Carisi, who blinked into wakefulness at the movement. “Hey,” he said, his voice scratchy from sleep, a small smile stretching slowly across his face.

Then, abruptly, his eyes widened, and he did his level best to squirm away from Barba. “Shit, what time is it?”

“Almost 8,” Barba told him honestly, unsurprised when Carisi jolted up into a sitting position and trying desperately not to miss the warmth.

“I gotta go,” Carisi told him, running a hand through his hair before grabbing his tie from where he had carefully folded it and set it on top of his shoes next to the couch. He hastily tied it and stood, smoothing the tie in front of his chest. “Do I look ok?” he asked.

Barba raised an eyebrow as he glanced up at him. “You look like you slept on a couch all night,” he told him dryly.

Carisi sighed. “Well, it’ll have to do.” He gave Barba an unreadable look as he straightened his tie once more. “We, uh, we should—”

“Thank you, Detective,” Barba interjected lightly, meeting Carisi’s gaze without flinching away. “I appreciate your help on this case. I assume you have a clean suit at the precinct?”

Carisi managed a small smile. “Yeah, I’ll figure something out.” He hesitated. “Call me later? About the case, I mean.”

“Of course,” Barba said. “I’ll keep you posted.” 

Carisi nodded and gave Barba one last fleeting look before disappearing, and Barba allowed himself thirty seconds of leaning back against the couch before he stood, crossing back to his desk and getting his files in order. He had twenty seven motions to deal with, after all, and no time whatsoever to spare on what had happened over the course of the past night.

 

 

_ 3:19am _

_  
“God, you weren’t kidding,” Barba groaned, trying not to sound as pitiful as he felt at Carisi’s fingers digging into the seemingly permanent knots in his shoulders. “You really are good at this.”_

_Carisi laughed lightly. “I think you’ll find I’m full of surprises,” he told Barba, his voice low, his breath warm against the back against Barba’s neck, and Barba couldn’t quite suppress the goosebumps that broke out across his skin at both the sensation and the sentiment._

_He turned slowly, looking at Carisi carefully, whatever meticulously crafted comeback he had dying on his tongue when he saw the look in Carisi’s eyes._

_Barba would never be able to pinpoint later which one of them had leaned in, had closed the space between them, but in the end, it didn’t matter, Barba’s lips meeting Carisi’s in a rush as he reached out to ball a fist in Carisi’s shirt while Carisi cupped his cheek with one of his hands, the other holding them upright against the couch._

_Carisi pulled back, just slightly, his eyes dark. “We should—”_

_“Later,” Barba said, surging forward to kiss Carisi once more._

_They had the entire rest of the night, after all._

_More than enough time to address everything they needed to._

_Or else, more than enough time to spend like this, together._


End file.
